Find a partial transcript for this episode at the bottom of this post – We suggest listening rather than reading, as it’s more fun and the transcript misses a lot of the on location live clips:-) But if you’d prefer to read, do so below.

In this Budapest Guide Podcast episode:

We explore Budapest’s Street art scene and the ruin bars of district 7 (including the famous “Szimpla Kert”). We stay at Retox and discover what it’s like to stay or work at a party hostel – mental! Plus we eat a traditional Hungarian 2 course lunch for only 3 euros.

Partial Transcript

The below content is based on the script we used to record this episode. So a lot of the live content and humour you’d get from listening is lost… But, if you can’t listen to the podcast, hopefully the below info will be useful to you.

Hello!

We have an announcement. We’re in Love… With Budapest.

Seriously, we love a lot of cities. But we are not IN love with them. Budapest is different.

Here is the crazy thing, we barely left district 7, which is the old Jewish quarter. We didn’t even venture into the old town in district 1. We were there for 8 days and apart from doing a night river cruise, which was really a booze cruise, we didn’t go and see any of the old town at all.

District 7 just has so much character. Great food options at great prices and some of the most interesting bars in the world. It has history. It was a jewish ghetto during the 2nd world war and, as such, didn’t get bombed. So it is just filled with interesting architecture.

We are going to chat with Johnny from Retox party hostel later, one of the hostels we teamed up with. He runs a street art workshop which was a lot of fun and only costs like 6 euros. The story behind the street art in district 7 is actually really interesting, so more on that later in the show.

What else is coming up? The american food revolution is happening in Budapest. Unexpected but very tasty. Also, we mentioned in episode 41 a couple of weeks back that we got a 3 Euro lunch deal in Budapest. Gonna be talking about that super affordable traditional food later on.

So, that’s todays show.

Lets first talk about the ruin Bars. District 7 is full of them.

1. Ruin Bars [LIVE CLIP]

I already miss these bars sooooo much. about $2 for a pint. Amazing ambience, generally busy most nights in the summertime. And there were just so many of them, all completely unique. Plus up cycling trumps generic Ikea bars every time.

Ok, so as always we end up talking booze and food. It’s not over yet, but history and culture is coming up later too.

Right now, American food. Who’d have thought it would be so popular in Hungary. Lets run the clip

2A/B American Food! [LIVE CLIP]

It’s going into my top 5 burgers ever and it cost about $6 for the burger with goose fat fried potatoes.

Ok, enough of food. What about accommodation. We stayed in 2 different hostels and with airBnB while we were in Budapest. The first was Wombats, who have a few locations around Europe. They were voted the cleanest hostel in Europe. It really is super clean and it’s right in the heart of district 7 just a few minutes walk in any direction to anything. INcluding the late night pizza slice place, I’ll put the address in the show notes, but you can get a giant slice for about 75 cents. Amazing.

Speaking of food, as we do, the all you can eat breakfast at Wombats is about $4 and will fill you up for lunch too. Toasties, cold cuts, cereal and fruit. It is a fantastic brunch solution.

The other hostel we stayed in was Retox. They don’t do breakfast. In fact, you’d be lucky if many people there get up in time for lunch – it’s a party hostel. The best thing is, no enforced check out time. Nada.

Its sort of the opposite experience to the clean and organised Wombats. Its rough and ready, binge drinking madness and it feels like there are more staff than guests as everyone is so welcoming. But literally, there is a whole team of resident drinking fun-starter. We had a chat with a few of them.

3A Party Hostels [LIVE CLIP]

It certainly seems like a mental lifestyle. A few days was intense. Living there would be hard work for your internal organs. Still, we haven’t partied that hard often and the social environment was just great. Also, the 1 Euro happy hour pints helped keep our wallet happy.

On wednesday nights they have the Alcholympics. Teams of 3 battle it out in drinking games of titanic proportions. And yes, some of the players will sink.

The bar manager, Johnny has been living in Budapest for years and as a massive street art fan, we caught up with him for a chat about Party hostel life and street art.

3B/C Interview – Street art [LIVE CLIP]

Thanks again to Johnny from Retox bar for that interview.

We actually did an alternative street art walking around district 7 with Alternative Budapest Tours. The legal street art has only really appeared in the last 10 years. It really brightens the place up and its everywhere. Giant brick walls, coated in colour bring a sense of happiness to an area which had really been in ruin since the second world war.

There is this one park that used to be a dangerous place at night and now it is full of children and families. A giant mural of clouds, blue skies and a meadow sits on the wall behind the park. And these art works are respected by the illegal street artists, who actually refrain from tagging them.

Communism is well and truly gone in the hearts and minds of the people who live there. Our guide explained that, politically, the young people in district 7 are the ones who speak openly and criticise the government. They have even nicknamed there president, Viktor, the Vicktator.

Corruption is still a serious problem in Budapest, sadly.

One thing that is still around from history is traditional food. We had to get some Goulash. And, we did some research using google translate, as we talked about in episode 41, go back and listen to that if you want to learn more about our full method for finding the super local stuff.

I haven’t been able to get the name of the dish I mentioned, unfortunately. It was pork with a creamy mushrooms sauce and I’m sure if you ask the waiter you’ll get it.

So, that was our taste of Budapest and I want more! We’ll be back.

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Travel Homework

Your homework is to go to Budapest. Book a flight now!

But seriously, we can’t wait to go back. And you can get a decent apartment in the 7th district for less than $500 a month, even less if you get a small place or a room in a shared apartment.

So, if you are heading to Europe and have not chosen all your destinations yet, make sure Budapest is on your list.

Love this podcast? Why not pin it to your favourite Pinterest board!

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DISCLAIMER: We are affiliated with World Nomads, a company we love and support. We also received freebies from Wombats, Retox, Alternative Budapest tours, Viator, & Gellert Baths. We are not affiliated with any other of the recommended products on this page. Our opinions, as always, are our own.

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